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He find Slio.
^ “If “And I were asking,” just ho-said, lowly beggar maid,
you were a
With my strong hand I’d lift you to my side
And crown you queen; and in the great
king’s bride
Men would not know,
Or would forget, the maid.’’
“If I were quean,” s'uo said,
“And you, a careless, wandering minstrel,
strayed
To my fair court, I’d set you on the throne;
And being there, the greatest king e’er
known,
I would kneel down
And serve you as your maid.”
—[Elizabeth Bisland in Outing.
A HUNTER'S PLIGHT.
Twenty years ago, before the disap¬
pearance of the buffalo, and before tho
power of tho fighting tribes of Indians
was broken, a white man could get al¬
most any sort of adventure west of
Omaha at a very early hour in the
ing, The Bluo 'Mountain country of
Oregon, in which rise two of the
branches of the Columbia river, was
once a hunter’s paradise, and here it
was the cinnamon and tho grizzly bears
grew tho largest and were always ach¬
ing for a row with some one. The first
white men in there after pelts chanced
so many perils that it was almost a mir¬
acle if any of them got out alive. Tho
Indians were numerous and watchful,
bears and panthers as thick as niico in
a farm house, and an adventure of some
sort was sure to occur daily.
Iliad been in a bit of covo or valley
on tho eastorn side of the mountains
for ten or twolvo days before I got any¬
thing like a scare. It was within forty
miles of the south lino of Washington
Territory, and tho country for a hun
'dred milc3 around mo was in the same
savage stato as when Columbus dis¬
covered tho continent. The Indians
were further cast, on tho Saake river,
•or further west, on tho Columbia and its
branches, and only detached parties
were to bo feared. While this was a
great burden off my mind, the bears
and panthers were so numerous that I
was in a stato of constant alarm through
the day, and dared not shut both eyes
to sleep at night, I had a pack and a
riding mule, and on the first night of
my arrival, while I had a bright firo
burning, and tho animals were tethered
within a stone’s throw, a panther sprang
upon old Bob, my riding mule, and
■clawed him in a terrible way beforo I
-could get near enough to settle him
with a bullet. Three or lour bears
prowled around my camp all night,
f.ad the screams of a panther kept my
eyos open until diybroak. However,
after I had thinned out the colony by a
•dozen or fifteen, the varmints began to
givo me a re3t.
On the 10th or 11th day of my stay I
left camp at an early hour ia the morn¬
ing loaded for bear. I followed the val¬
ley up for a half a mile, and then turned
into a ravine which was tho bed of a
■creek during the melting of the snows.
It ascended very gradually, and I had
boon following it for half an hour, when
it took a sharp bend to tho right. At
this point there was a hole ia the right
hand cliff, and as I halted to look at it
I wondered if it was not tho homo of
some savage beast. I had moved on
about 500 feet, when a grizzly, which
had been, lying down among the broken
rocks, suddenly rose before me. I was
looking for his kind, but his appearance
was so suidon, and he showed fight so
quickly that my heart was beating alto¬
gether too fast as I pulled up for a shot.
It had to be a snap shot, for not more
than 30 feet separated us. Mine was
single-barrelled rifle, and I also had
knifo and revolver. Tha bullet struck
bruin In the oft shoulder, and ha spun
around a dozen times like a top. I was
reloading when ho got ready to form a
closer acquaintance. He liad worked
up the ravine and I had worked down,
and wo were now 100 feet apart, I
knew I could not finish Loading before
ho reached me, and there was no other
way but to run for it and hope that he
was too seriously wounded to overtake
mo.
In those days I could run like a horse,
and I was accustomed to all sorts of
ground, hut I hadn’t made ten jumps
on this occasion before my foot s ipped
on a stone and I went down with a
crash. Old grizzly was within twenty
feet of mo when I got up, and I pitched
my rifle into his face as I took a new
start. The roar he uttored lifted mo a
foot high, and I made a dozen extraor¬
dinary leaps, but it wasn’t a minute bc
foro I renlizod that ho was holding his
ground, if not gaining a little. No man
can guess how far a wounded and en¬
raged boast will pursue him. I believe
I could havo kept clear of this bear
down to the mouth of the ravine, hut if
he pursued me far enough he would be
certain to ovortake me. I made up my
mind as I ran that I would try the hole
in the cliff. It was large enough for
me to enter, ancl might be large enough
for tho bear, but once insido I could
turn and use my revolver. Old grizzly
was hardly more than a rod behind mo
when I plumbed into the hole and
scrambled ahead on hands and knees.
After going in about ten feet tho hole
turned to the left and narrowed consi 1
erably, and seven or eight feet further
on I came to the end. As I did so my
hand encountered something soft and
furry, and there was a hiss and a spit
that told me that a kitten panther was
present. I felt all around mo in the
black darkness, but tho kitten was the
only living object. He was a little fel¬
low, not more than four or six weeks
old, but ready to bite aud scratch if my
fingers touched him.
Tho grizzly did not follow at once
into the cave. It was five minutes be¬
fore I heard him working his way
in, and by this time 1 had re¬
covered'by breath and nerve. I was
certain he could not reach me within
six feet, and was ralher glad to hear
him wheezing and snorting as he pulled
himself along. By and by I saw his
eyes shine. He could como no further.
His claws dug at the rocks and his roars
of rage deafened me, but I was safe. It
was now my turn, and I gave him two
shots from the revolver which caused
him to redouble his roars of rage. For
about ten minutes I felt very queer
over tho situation, but all of a sudden it
struck me that I had gained nothing by
tho change. In place of being a fugi¬
tive I was a prisoner. The bear showed
no disposition to retreat, and I now be¬
came aware of the fact that tho cave had
a rank smell and that the body of the
bear prevented the fresh air from enter¬
ing. I felt that I must drive him out,
and I did a very foolish thing. I edged
nearer to him and put four bullet i into
his head, and after a long-drawn moan
he closed lib eves and died. I congrat¬
ulated myself for a moment, but then it
dawned upon me that I had choke! up
the passage to liberty with the earcas3
of a bear weighing at least 600 pounds.
I thought I might be able to push it be¬
fore me, but when I made tha attempt
I could not stir it an inch. I had done
an idiotic thing, and thoro was no way
to repair tho error.
I was wondering how I should get
out of it, when I hoard tho scream
of another animal at the entrance of tho
cave, and in a moment more realized
that tho mother of tho cub panther had
arrived. It was well for me that the
body of the bear blocked tho entrance.
The panther went wild with fury when
her kitten began to call. Sho bit and
clawed at the bear, and by a great effort
pulled it back a few inches. Had not
the space been so contracted she could
probably have drawn it out, but she did
not have a fair show to use her strength.
Her eyes looked at mo over the body of
the bear, and if one ever saw fury it was
in those orbs. I gave her a couple of
shots, hoping to drive her off, I think
I wounded her in the head, for she set
up a terrible screaming and ran out,
but in two or three minutes she was
back again with more fury than ever.
I now pushed her kitten forward, hop¬
ing she would be appeased at its restor¬
ation. It climbed over the bear and
reached her, and she took it in her
mouth and backed out. I was a pleased
man over this result, for the cave was
as hot as an oven, smelled powerfully
stout of panthers, and the powder smoko
almost stifled me. Being a bit rattled
had brought on an intense thirst,
and I felt that I had got to
do something pretty soon or
suffocate. Pretty soon I crept for¬
ward, and began pushing at tho big
carcass, but had not been engaged over
two or three minutes when tho panther
returned. She had carried her kitten
to a place of safety, and wa3 now bent
on revenge. She realized that the
carcass mu3t be got out of tho way be¬
fore sha could corns at mo, and had I
not seized the grizzly by the ear and
hung on she would have pulled the
body out of tho cave. She hung to it
for half an hour before she quit the
job, and then she retired in a way
which left no doubt that sho would
watch at the entrance.
When the panther had gone I struck
a match and looked at my watch. It
was nearly noon, and I was really suffer¬
ing for water. There was a damp spot
on the rocks over my head, and 1
licked it with my tongue and in that
way got some relief, but I would have
traded my whole outfit for one glass
of cool water. I felt that I was in a
bad box, nn:l as is generally the
case in such instances, I thought
of every way out of it but tho easiest
one. I reloaded my revolver and
planned to wait until the panther would
leave tho neighborhood, but about 2
o’clock I suspected, from the move¬
ments in the tunnel, that tho one I had
encountered had hunted up her mate
and brought him to the front. Such
soon proved to be the fact, but as onlj
one could enter tho place at a time, it
was no advantage to them. They took
turns tugging at the carcass of the bear
and the new comer would have dragged
it cut in short order but for my inter¬
ference. There wa3 a spaco of about
six inches between the body and the
roof of the tunnel, and, though the
fumes of the powder almost choked me,
I shoved my revolver along uatil close
to the panther and then put two bullets
into him; ho let go his hold and backed
out, and the way he did rave up and
down that ravine made my hear stand.
I had wounded both and neither of
them ventured into the place again.
For about an hour I heard them growl¬
ing and snarling outside, and every
click of their daws on the rocks was
plainly audible but by and by they gave
it up as a bad job and went away.
It was now close on to 3 o'clock, and
I went at the carcass with the determi¬
nation to push it before mo. It was too
late; the limbs had stiffened like sticks,
and the feet caught at every inequality
and resisted my efforts. There I was,
a man of 30, a giant in strength, a born
hunter and Indian fighter, penned up
like a rat and just as help'ess. It came
to me, even with all that meat before
me, that I was doomed to die of hunger,
and it was only as tho sun had almost
been lost sight of outsido that common
sense returned to my aid. Tho way to
rid my3clf of that carcass was to cut it
up. It ought to hayo occurred to me at
the very outset, but the race and cloaa
pursuit had upset mo. I had a stout
hunting knife, and I had just begun
work on the bear when I heard tho
voices of Indians outside. I also heard
them inside, fer one of the fellows crept
into the tunnel a few feet, and shouted in
his own language to his friends outside:
“It smells very strong ol bear in here,
but the beast doesn’t seem to bo at
home.”
He hacked out aftor flinging several
missiles at the rear of the cave, and
from the voices and movements I was
satisfied it was a hunting party number¬
ing eighteen persons. They sat down
right there for tho night aid built a
camp Are, which reflected right into the
mouth of tho tunnel, and kept their
chatter a-going until nearly mi Jnight.
They had three or four dogs with them,
and tho miserable curs took turns at
sticking their heads into the opening
and trying to raise an alarm. O.ie of
the Indians encouraged his dogs to enter
and the animal came almost to the dead
bear, and raised such a fuss that had tho
red men been the least suspicious they
would have investigated. I did not get
a wink of sleep that long night, and
was a thankful man to hear the Indians
move off in tho morning about sunrise.
They had no sooner departed
than I fell to work upon the
bear, and in tho course of half an
hour had cut him up so that I could
squeeze out. As the Indians had gone
down the ravine fro n the mountain, I
expected they would discover my camp
and lie in ambush for me. There was
also a likelihood that the wild boasts
had killed both muic3 during the night.
Luck was with me, however. The
Indians crossed the valley too high up
to discover my camp, and I found tho
mulc3 safe and sound. That afternoon,
as I was looking after some traps set on
a creek about a mile from camp, I
found a panther dead in a thicket. He
was an enormous follow aud had two
bullet wounds, and it did not need
much cogitating to convince me that ha
was the male of the pair which sought
to get at mo in the cave. One of tho
bullets ha 1 gone squire iuto liis head,
aud almost any other animal would
have died at once, but he had not only
survived it for two or tlireo hours, but
had traveled a long five miles from the
cave.—[New York Sun.
Not a Glittering Success.
Papa had visitors and sent the 3-year
old cyclone to bed. The cyclone dis¬
approved of this and had no hesitancy
ia showing it. When ho went up stairs
ho left the parlor door open. Papa
prides himself on his method of disci¬
plining children, and waiting until the
cyclone was in bed, called him down
again. “I
just want to show you liow I man
ago a boy,” he said, turning to his visi¬
tors. “There's nothing like going the
right way about it to make a boy mind.”
Slowly and sulkily the cyclone cams
down.
“AVhat are doors made for, sir?” de¬
manded papa sternly.
The cyclone looked at him, at the
visitors, at the door and said:
“To open, o’ course."—[Philadelphia
CaiL
Fishing by Electricity.
A pocket dynamo and a scoop-r.et
promise to supercede tho can of nngio
worras, the rod, and the minnow
bucket. The United States steamer
Albatross has been fitted with olcctvic
fishing lights for tho conduct of scien¬
tific research, and preliminary experi¬
ments with these lights have revealed
the fact that tho curiosity of fi >h to in¬
vestigate this unwonted radiance brings
them to the light ia
News,
